 |
| Estate |
| HILTON COLLEGE | |
 |
|
|
www.hiltoncollege.com |
|
|
www.hiltoncollege.com |
|
Environmental Awareness
Two societies at the school have been responsible for a growing awareness of the importance of conservation. The Wildlife Society has been concerned, mainly, with local activities, whereas the Enterprise Club has been very active in taking boys on trips during the school holidays.
Wildlife
Society
This society is open to all boys
and aims to promote a love and appreciation of the natural world by
involving boys in conservation activities. The society does organise
meetings with guest speakers, and outings to local places of interest, but
the focus of attention is the Hilton Estate itself.
On Sundays, boys are encouraged to make use of the estate and they are given packed lunches so that they can spend the whole day in the Gwen’s Valley. They are also allowed to camp out in the valley on Saturday nights. Food is supplied by the caterer and they choose their own campsites.
Sometimes work parties are arranged and these are concerned with some very important tasks on the estate, which include:
| (1) | Eradication of alien plants from areas where they have invaded the indigenous bush. These include plants like inkberry (Cestrum laevigatum), bugweed (Solanum auriculatum), and wattles. Some very good progress has been made but it is an ongoing task. |
| (2) | Building stepped paths on the steep stony sections in the Gwen’s Valley for easier access to the waterfalls and other places of interest. |
| (3) | Listing the animals and plants found on the Estate. A booklet has been published on the birds of the estate but this list has to be updated all the time. Further work needs to be done on documenting information on other aspects of the flora and fauna of the estate. |
The Wildlife Centre
The Wildlife Centre is a Victorian wood and iron house which was constructed
around the turn of the twentieth century. The house served as staff
accommodation until 1994, when it was handed over to the Conservation
Department. The house and garden serve as the headquarters of the
Conservation Department and Wildlife Society. All activities that take place
on the Estate are co-ordinated from the office in this building. This is
also a place where boys can relax and spend free afternoons pursuing their
interests in natural history. It contains a small museum, reading and
research room, and a place for boys to keep snakes and other little
creatures. Outside in the garden there are aviaries, a small indigenous tree
nursery, and a Bird Garden with a viewing hide.
Enterprise
Club
This club has the largest membership of any society at Hilton and operates
mainly in holiday time. It is open to senior and junior pupils who have the
opportunity of going on trips to places of interest all over Southern Africa
and abroad.
Almost every holiday, especially the April
and July vacations, trips are offered. The following is a list of some of
the activities and the places visited in the past years.
• Hikes in the Drakensberg
• Hikes down the Wild Coast
• Botswana and Okavango Swamps (6 trips)
• Bicycle rides to Cape Town, and from Beit Bridge to Hilton
• Everest Base Camp Trek
• Diving and Fishing trips to Mozambique
• Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro
The
club has a very comprehensive stock and kit room.
These trips provide the pupils with the opportunity to learn to appreciate outdoor life and to instill in them an awareness of the importance of conserving these natural areas.
Umgeni Valley Project
Part of the western boundary of the Estate is the Umgeni River which
separates Hilton from the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve, run by the Wildlife
Society of South Africa. During the 1987 Natal Floods the boundary fence
between the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve and the Hilton Estate was washed
away. This fence has never been replaced and this allows animals like
Burchell’s Zebra, Blue Wildebeest , Warthog and Impala to cross over into
the Hilton College property.